My cast was sloppy.
It was the night before my brother was married.
The floodgates of controversy are upon me. By daring to post Part 1 of my two-part blog post on The Least Discussed, Most Controversial Skillset on Any Trout Stream, I have, as predicted, been under harsh scrutiny and criticism from fly shops, guides, and the fly fishing community in general for addressing this widely known but little talked about fly fishing subject. Only a few have come to my defense. But I persist! ...Because while the featured image shows a beautiful stretch of the Bighole River, what it does not reveal is the author completely underwater after flawlessly executing a more common technique for falling in the river.
The first time I fished Mammoth Creek, I drove past them. The fences were weathered grey and white cedar bleached by the sun. Faded and torn, the old coral melded into the tall grass along the river. Part of the landscape. I noticed them just before the gravel road took me up a small hill behind wide oak trees that reached over and made a tunnel for my small white truck. I drove on until I knew that those worn posts had been the landmark. “The Corals”. Then I travelled further through the beams of light that penetrated the trees and strobed off the white gravel until I found a spot where I could make a three point turn and drive back through my dust cloud towards The Corals and access to the river.
“We sure are losing a lot of beadheads Pop.”
I am constantly surprised by the river.
It is one thing to not catch fish while nymphing. It is another to be hooking up all day and then come up short on a great spot.
“You make coffee?”
He stood two feet away from me. Close, so his whisper sounded loud in the quiet while the others slept.
“Nope.”